'Are you looking for an Uber?' Police arrest theft suspect who tried to escape via rideshare

A man suspected of stealing tools from a Colorado plumbing store was arrested just as he was trying to escape in an Uber, police said.

The incident occurred Dec. 28 when a 911 caller alerted the police about a hole in the fence and security footage of a man stealing tools at Blue Sky Plumbing, the Wheat Ridge Police Department said.

When officers arrived at the location, they found an Uber driver waiting in the area, who told them that he was picking up a man at Blue Sky Plumbing and that his passenger was walking towards the car.

Officers intercepted the suspect as he was walking to the car.

“Are you looking for an Uber?” an officer can be heard asking him in bodycam footage shared by the department, to which the man responds: “Uh...no."

He then gives officers a fake name and takes several steps away from the officers, who immediately grab him.

When told that his description matches that of a thief in the area, the suspect maintains that he is not the person that the police are looking for and that he is just on his way to his mother’s house. An officer asks him to provide an ID, but the man says that he does not have one on him.

The body cam footage then shifts to the police unpacking his backpack, which had more than $8,600 worth of tools by the Milwaukee brand, according to the police.

The suspect was taken to the police department, where fingerprint scanners confirmed his real identity, said the police. Police said that they will be "recommending a felony theft charge, along with six misdemeanor charges to our partners at the First Judicial DA's Office of Colorado".

While the police did not explicitly name the suspect, court records show that Jose Guadalupe Perez-Gallardo, 26, was arrested on Dec. 29, on multiple charges including theft, criminal trespass, false reporting to authorities and possession of burglary tools among others.

"It may not be the best idea to have an Uber pick you up AT the crime scene," said the police.

A Denver suburb, Wheat Ridge is approximately 5 miles west-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.